War Papers

THE CAPTURE OF "CAMP JACKSON", ST. LOUIS
By
Otto C. Lademann, Captain, 3rd Missouri Infantry, U.S. Volunteers
Companion of the 1st Class
Wisconsin Commandery
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S.
Read October 5, 1904
(First Published 1914)

Transcribed by Douglas R. Niermeyer, Commander, Missouri Commandery
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S.momollus@sbcglobal.net(September 1999)

At the outbreak of our great Civil War, things were very much mixed in
Missouri. Practically there were three parties in existence; first and foremost
the unconditional Union men, secondly the so-called Union men that were
opposed to coercion, who ultimately all joined the rebels, and thirdly the
honest and open hearted secessionists.

St. Louis in 1861, was a town of about 150,000 inhabitants the leading city of
the state of Missouri, and of the greatest strategical importance, when river
transportation constituted the sole means of communication in the Western
States.

Situated near the confluence of the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers, it was
the natural distributing point of the South, the South West, the West and the
North West, as far as the Missouri river extended.

It was quite a manufacturing town, possessing large and well equipped
foundries, which proved of great benefit in building up a river way.

Early in January, 1861, the governor, and a majority of the Legislature of
Missouri, being rank rebels, passed a resolution ordering an election for a
Constitutional Convention to meet in February, with the intention of passing an
Ordinance of Secession by said Convention. This election was a sore
disappointment to the Secessionists, the people of Missouri declaring by
60,000 majority their love for the Union.

In the southern part of the city, on the banks of the Mississippi river, is
situated the U. S. Arsenal, containing about ten acres of ground surrounded
by a rock wall. Some 20,000 muskets were stored in the main Arsenal
building, placed there by order of that arch traitor, Floyd, Secretary of War of
President Buchanan, with the intention that these muskets be turned over to
the rebels.

The commandant of the St. Louis Arsenal was Major W. A. Bell of the
Ordinance Department, a North Carolinian, a thorough rebel, but too much of
an old soldier, and regular army officer, to turn the Arsenal over to a mob, so
he agreed with Brig. Gen. D. M. Frost, commanding the Volunteer Militia of
the state of Missouri, in St. Louis, to surrender to him upon proper summons.

Brig. Gen. Frost, like Major Bell, was a graduate of West Point, but had left
the regular service some years before, to become a Militia General; he was a
very innocent soldier who joined the Confederate Army as a general when
released, after his capture in Camp Jackson, but was never heard of again
during the war. Soon after the inauguration of President Lincoln, Simon
Cameron of Pennsylvania, being Secretary of War, Major Bell, whose
disloyalty was well known in Washington, was relieved of the command of the
Arsenal, and Captain Nathaniel Lyon, Co. "B," 2nd Infantry, was appointed to
the command.

Here was a loyal man and a hero, who would sooner die, than surrender, and
he instantly proceeded to take such measure of defense as was possible
under the circumstances.

The loyal element of the citizens (mostly German-American,) had not been
idle in the meantime. Everywhere in the city, except in the central portion,
where the wealthier slaveholding families and strong secessionists resided,
secret clubs had been organized and were drilling; young men, middle aged,
and old men being initiated into the mysteries of "Hayfoot, Strawfoot."

The appointment of Captain Lyon had completely upset the plans of the
rebels, who well knew that the only way to take the Arsenal from him was by
force of arms.

When in April, 1861, President Lincoln called out 75,000 men to serve for 90
days, Missouri's quota was a regiment of infantry. The rebel Governor of
Missouri, Claiborn Fox Jackson, refused to comply with the requisition of the
War Department in an insolent message, and as Commander-in-Chief of the
Missouri Militia, ordered the Volunteer Militia to assemble in a camp of
instruction, near the city of St. Louis, on Monday, May 6, 1861. The camp
was named Camp Jackson, in honor of the Governor, and Brig-Gen. Frost
placed in command of it.

On Tuesday, May 7th, a steamboat from the South called the J. C. Swan,
arrived, flying the new rebel flag, the Stars and Bars the first I had ever seen.

I had enlisted in Co. "E" 3rd Missouri Infantry, Colonel Franz Sigel, on April
27th, General Grant's birthday. Sneaking down to the Arsenal to avoid all
observation, and provided with a little slip of paper of peculiar shape and
color, which gained me admittance to the Arsenal, I was mustered into the
service by General Schofield, then Lieutenant of Artillery on detached service
at the Washington University in St. Louis.

In 1858 and 1859, I had served in the volunteer Militia of Illinois, enabling me
to drill a company in Scott's Tactics, and I was made a Sergeant to drill Co.
"E." Here I attracted the attention of Colonel Sigel, and on Wednesday, May
8th, he sent for me and ordered me to go to the Steamer Swan, and find out
what freight she had brought to St. Louis. I had no difficulty in ascertaining
that a part of her cargo consisted of Ordnance stores, taken aboard at the
Baton Rouge Arsenal in Louisiana, figuring on the manifest as marble slabs,
and carted out to Camp Jackson. Most of the deckhands of the Steamer
were Germans and Union men and they gladly told me all they knew. I went
to Camp Jackson pretending to be a recruit from the South West and anxious
to enlist in the rebel militia I found a lot of old junk - guns without cartridges,
shot and shell unfitted for service, the whole outfit thoroughly worthless, good
only to adorn a military museum. I so reported to Colonel Sigel, handing him
at the same time a sketch of the Camp, and on Thursday, May 9th, I was
called before a council of war to explain the topography of the camp as
shown by my little sketch.

On Friday, May 10th, the company drilling in the morning as usual, received
orders at about 11 o'clock to return to our quarters, a nice little two story
brick stable near the north wall of the Arsenal, standing there today. We each
received a package of ball cartridges, loaded our guns and placed the rest of
our ammunition in our pockets. We left the Arsenal at 1 p.m. a very motley
looking crowd each in his citizen's clothes as he left his shop, his office, or his
store, the only uniform thing about us being our bright shining muskets.

Our departure from the Arsenal was witnessed by the future Commanding
General of the U.S. Army, General U.S. Grant, who as a citizen spectator
stood opposite the Arsenal gate. My regiment the 3rd Missouri Infantry
Colonel Franz Sigel, marched north on Broadway, on 5th St., to Elm, west on
Elm Street to 10th, north on 10th, to Olive, west on Olive to 30th Street or
Garrison Avenue, where the northeast corner of Camp Jackson was located.
There we deployed and formed a line on the east side of the camp while the
1st, 2nd, and 4th Infantry, Missouri Volunteers, one battalion of regulars, four
regiments of homeguards, and four 12-pound howitzers surrounded the camp
on the south, north and west sides. No war having been declared, we did not
march as an army, but as a posse comitatus, accompanying the U.S.
Marshal, serving a writ of replevin on General Frost, to recover the old junk
stolen from the U. S. Arsenal at Baton Rouge, and incidentally informing
General Frost that he had 30 minutes time in which to surrender, or General
Lyon would open fire on him and his troops. Being greatly outnumbered and
totally surrounded, General Frost decided to surrender. When his disarmed
soldiers marched out of the camp, the 3rd Missouri Infantry marched in and
occupied the same. Here a deplorable accident happened. Some rebel
scoundrel, perched in a tree, fired his pistol on our troops and wounded Capt.
Blandowsky of the 3rd Missouri, who soon died of this wound. This shot
started a general fusillade, we volunteers shooting more at each other than at
the crowd of citizens gathered at the east end of the camp, towards the city,
to witness the surrender.

Amidst that crowd was my future Corps Commander, General W. T. Sherman
leading his oldest boy Thomas, by the hand. Thus by a very strange
coincidence the two greatest Generals of the Union Army were citizen
spectators of my first military exploit. After the firing ceased, at about 5 p.m.,
General Frost and his 1,200 men started for the Arsenal as prisoners of war
under the escort of the regulars.

The guns, the 1st Missouri infantry, Colonel Blair, the 2nd Missouri Infantry,
Colonel Boernstein and the Homeguards, the 3rd Missouri and the 4th
Missouri, Colonel Nic. Schuttner under command of Colonel Sigel, remained to
garrison the camp. During the evening we heard rumors from the city, that the
secessionists had organized a big mob at the Planters' House, under the lead
of Dr. McDowell, for the purpose of "killing all the Dutch" they could get hold
of in revenge for the capture of Camp Jackson. This Dr. McDowell, an out
and out rebel, was the owner of McDowell's Medical College on 8th and
Gratiot Street, soon confiscated by tile government and utilized as a military
prison during the whole war. At 11 p.m., Colonel Sigel sent for me and told
me to go to the Arsenal and report to General Lyon that everything was quiet
in the camp, and to ask for instructions for the next day.

I was an ardent Union man, and ready to shed my last drop of blood in
defense of the Union, but in view of the mob down town, I was not ready at all
to be a murdered Dutchman that night, and I tried to get out of the job by
telling Colonel Sigel I had no arms except my big 69 calibre musket which I
could not well handle in the carriage that was to take me to the Arsenal, so
Colonel Sigel handed me his own revolver and I had to go. It was raining pitch
forks, and I never met a human being, not even a policeman, until the sentinel
at the Arsenal gate halted me.

I made my report to General Lyon, who expressed his astonishment that
Colonel Sigel had sent a noncommissioned Officer, and ordered me to inform
Colonel Sigel that he should procure all the vehicles he needed, load up all the
arms, tents, and other stuff in the captured camp, and march back to the
Arsenal as soon as he was ready.

Having made my report to Colonel Sigel, he sent me back to the city to
procure a sufficient number of vehicles. I did not know a soul in the city that
owned a horse and wagon for hauling purposes, but undismayed, I returned
to the city, drove to Frenchtown, where nobody but Germans lived, and of
course found a saloon where a party of patriotic Germans still celebrated the
Union victory, at 2 o'clock in the morning. To them I stated my dilemma
offering big pay in Uncle Sam's name for the use of horses and wagons and
they assured me they would attend to the matter, and I finally returned to
Camp Jackson. Shortly after daylight my teams commenced to arrive, first
singly, then in pairs, then by the dozens and before 8 a.m., there were several
hundred collected no doubt in consequence of my liberal offer of money. Soon
we commenced loading the wagons and by 10 a.m. the whole camp was on
wheels, lock stock and barrel, horse, foot and dragoons, each wagon loaded
with a few tents or guns or muskets or some of that old junk from Baton
Rouge Arsenal, and we commenced our return march to the Arsenal, east on
Market Street to 14th, south on 14th to Chateau Avenue. east in Chateau
Avenue to Broadway or 5th Street, and thence south to the Arsenal. On our
whole road we found sour and ugly faces, and anything but blessings for the
Dutch, but entering Frenchtown, at Broadway and Chateau Ave., we marched
along a regular "Via Triumphalis," a genuine road of triumph for a mile and a
half, every man, woman and child was cheering, yelling, romping, laughing,
waving flags, hand-kerchiefs, towels, tablecloths, anything that came to hand.
We arrived at the Arsenal about noon.

The capture of Camp Jackson was no great military deed, but it has this
distinction that it started a train of events which directly prevented the
secession of Missouri, and indirectly the secession of the other so called
Border Slave States, Kentucky and Maryland and Delaware.

It is also remarkable in this that it is the first instance in the history of our
Great Civil War where United States troops struck out from the right shoulder
and gave the rebels a black eye, while up to this time, it had always been the
reverse.

Source:Lademann, O.C. 1914. THE CAPTURE OF CAMP JACKSON, ST. LOUIS, War Papers Read before the Commandery of the State of Wisconsin, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. Burdick and Allen, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Volume 4, pp.69-75.